Detective Conan: Death Note-Chapter 355: FBI Response

Afternoon In the spacious room, the air conditioner hummed smoothly. White curtains blocked the view outside the window. Only the blazing mi

Afternoon

In the spacious room, the air conditioner hummed smoothly.

White curtains blocked the view outside the window.

Only the blazing midday sun penetrated the soft gauze, casting the shadow of green ivy on the windowsill, swaying gently in the warm breeze.

When he opened his eyes, Hayashi Yoshiki felt that the warm and wet sensation was incredibly comfortable.

He smiled.

Just as he was about to straighten his upper body to sit up, a pair of hands gently supported his back.

Amid the background sound of sticky saliva, he glanced at the time:

14:49

He reached out to touch the head of the woman in front of him, running his fingers through her soft chestnut hair, and gradually moved his hand down to her lovable, beautiful face.

ChirpChirp

With her cheek supported, Reiko Shimizu pursed her lips and deliberately made a loud sound.

"Aren’t you tired?"

"Tired..."

She finally stopped but pressed her pretty face against him. Her hoarse voice—strained from shouting all night—was filled with nostalgia and admiration:

"But I can’t bear to rest~"

"You’re really very cute, Reiko."

Reiko Shimizu, a few years older than Hayashi Yoshiki, now wore the satisfied expression of a little girl.

"Of course, I also want to thank Miss Seiran."

Hayashi Yoshiki spoke softly, then turned his head and smiled gently:

"I had a very comfortable rest."

At that moment, Hoshi Seiran—kneeling behind him with her legs together—had moist, shimmering eyes. She whispered in a gentle, almost trembling voice:

"...Mr. Hayashi, I hope you had enough rest."

"Well... I don’t know if it’s the anesthetic injection, but I still feel like I didn’t get enough sleep."

"Would you like to rest for a while?"

"No."

Upon hearing that Hayashi Yoshiki had no intention of resting, Reiko Shimizu immediately tried to get up—

—but he gently stopped her.

"Reiko, you should get some proper rest. After all, you helped me with something very important last night."

Hayashi Yoshiki smiled brightly, and before she could start acting playfully, he added:

"Beauty sleep is very important for girls, right? I hope you can always stay beautiful... and stay by my side."

"Okay~ As you command~"

She gave him a playful salute.

Hayashi Yoshiki got out of bed and walked into the bathroom.

He turned on the shower, letting the warm water cascade from above, washing away the stickiness of the night.

He slicked all his hair back.

At that moment, Seiran Hoshi entered.

Holding a towel, she gently wiped down his body. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

"Have you finished checking all the mailboxes I asked you to check yesterday, Miss Seiran?"

"Yes. I’ve confirmed that all the contents have been emptied. I also checked the lockers at Beihua Station and Komu Station—no issues."

Her voice mixed with the sound of the shower as she continued reporting:

"I’ve also reviewed the data you asked me to copy. Don’t worry—I transferred and concealed it multiple times. No one will trace it back to me."

"Thank you."

Hayashi Yoshiki spoke with genuine warmth.

He wrapped his arms around her slender waist, leaning in to kiss her lips.

"You really are incredible, Miss Seiran."

Seiran Hoshi almost collapsed in his arms.

In that moment, the happiness inside her nearly took her breath away.

But when Hayashi Yoshiki gently patted her, she steadied herself.

She turned her back to him and placed her hand on the glass wall of the shower room.

"Mr. Hayashi..."

It took quite some time before Hayashi Yoshiki finally left the bathroom.

He changed into clean clothes and headed out—he had to go to the Metropolitan Police Department to submit his official report on last night’s incident.

As for the spy list... he would confirm it later.

"No, I still can’t contact Akai."

In a room, Jodie Starling paced anxiously.

With her was a middle-aged man with silver hair and beard, wearing black-framed glasses and a composed expression.

"Don’t worry too much. Maybe Shuichi has a plan."

"Even so, he can’t just leave us completely in the dark! And he hasn’t made any move lately..."

Judy’s voice wavered with worry.

It had been nearly a full week since Shuichi Akai vanished without a trace—no word, no signal, nothing.

That was highly unusual.

Although Akai preferred to operate solo, he never ignored communications or failed to submit reports after independent actions.

But this time—nothing at all.

James Blake folded his arms and said nothing.

Truth be told, he too found Shuichi Akai’s disappearance deeply troubling.

What is he trying to do?

Or... is he hiding something?

Despite the mystery, neither Blake nor Judy even considered the possibility that Akai was dead.

They trusted in each other’s skills too much for that.

Yet Blake, staring at the ground, couldn’t fully suppress the shadow in his eyes.

Shuichi Akai was an excellent subordinate—perhaps too excellent.

As the superior to both Akai and Judy, James Blake was a peculiar figure—in every possible sense.

First of all, his name mirrored James Moriarty. He was even born on Baker Street, London.

Even his last name, Blake, sounded like "black."

In the world of Detective Conan, Holmes influence ran deep.

And interestingly, despite being Sherlock Holmes’ archenemy, Moriarty rarely appeared in the original canon.

He wasn’t a criminal celebrity like Al Capone; on the contrary, Professor Moriarty held a rather pristine public image.

Only a few people—like Holmes—ever suspected he was the "Napoleon of crime."

—Notably, in the original Conan canon, both Shuichi Akai and Conan (the "silver bullets") expressed distrust toward the FBI’s top brass.

Suddenly, James Blake’s phone vibrated slightly.

He checked the screen.

It was an anonymous message:

"Akai Shuichi is dead."

...

At that moment, James’s hand tightened around the phone.

He stared at the words—frozen.

Jodie, who had been pacing nearby, noticed his sudden tension.

"What’s wrong?"

"Nothing. Just a report—our agents still haven’t located Akai."

He slipped his phone away effortlessly.

"Shuichi probably has his own plan. Since he’s not communicating, we’ll treat him as missing and keep searching. Our actions might support him."

...

Jodie nodded.

It was the only thing they could do.

But still—

for some reason—

a chill of unease lingered in her heart.